Frank Voelkl: “Perfect Imperfection” and Scents That Feel at Home on the Skin

“I do not think a perfume should be completely perfect. When I have reached ‘perfect imperfection,’ I feel that the perfume is finished.”

Frank Voelkl, from an interview published by Liberty

Born in Bonn, Germany.

Le Labo’s Santal 33 and Glossier’s You: a woody fragrance with a powerful personality, and a fragrance that feels like skin itself. Both bear the work of Frank Voelkl.

Even if his style cannot easily be summed up in a single fragrance family, what he seeks is clear: that wearers feel comfortable and true to themselves. And that polishing every detail too thoroughly should not erase the charm unique to a fragrance.

A Career in Perfumery

From a German Farm to Scent-Filled Paris

Among his childhood memories is his uncle’s farm in Germany: the strong smell of the cowshed and the fresh air after rain. He was a boy attuned to the smells of everyday life, before perfume entered the picture.

He lived with his family in the Netherlands, then moved to Paris as a teenager. During the four years spent there, an interest in smells developed into an interest in perfume.

“Paris is a very fragrant city. There were smells everywhere. A little more than there are now. I became interested and started collecting perfumes.”

From a 2017 interview with Into The Gloss

On the metro and in the streets, he encountered the perfumes people wore. Among those that impressed him then were Yves Saint Laurent’s Kouros, Paco Rabanne’s R, and Dior’s Poison. It was a time when assertive fragrances were part of the air of everyday life.

On weekends, he visited Benlu, a perfume shop on the Rue de Rivoli. With his limited pocket money he bought soap, and eventually began buying perfume too. The warm, rich chypre worn by his mother also stayed in his memory.

The boy who had dreamed of becoming a diplomat turned toward making perfume because of a friend of his parents. Told of a perfume school in Versailles, he went to visit and found people actually creating scents. It was a profession one could study at school.

Studying Chemistry and Encountering Roudnitska’s Teaching

After completing an undergraduate course in chemistry in Germany, he studied at the ISIPCA perfumery school in Versailles. He memorized around 400 materials and repeatedly trained to recognize their smells.

He says the impression of first smelling coumarin at school remains vivid. Its creamy, almond-like scent immediately evoked a feeling of calm. The sense of comfort that would later become important in his work was already connected with his experience of learning materials.

At this school, he also had the opportunity to attend classes with Edmond Roudnitska. Voelkl still remembers the following lesson.

“Never lose sight of where you want your creation to go. Always keep your goal, what you want to achieve, in mind.”

Edmond Roudnitska, as recalled by Voelkl in an interview with Fragroom

While adjusting a fragrance, another good idea may emerge. But following such ideas endlessly can take one away from the original purpose. Even now, with years of experience, Voelkl says he thinks about what he wants to do before beginning a creation.

A Tahitian Flower Becomes His First Success

After graduating, he began working at Haarmann & Reimer. There he discovered the existence and potential of proprietary fragrance ingredients, known as captive materials, available only to the company itself. The company later merged with Dragoco to become Symrise.

Around 1995, he moved to New York and continued his career based in the United States. Then, in 1997, Chantecaille’s Tiare became what he describes as his first major success in fine fragrance.

Sylvie de Chantecaille, who was preparing to launch the brand, was looking for a perfume suggestive of exotic flowers. The tiare that captivated her was a flower with deep connections for Voelkl too.

“She was fascinated by tiare. And I, too, had a personal connection with this flower that symbolizes Tahiti. My wife is from Tahiti, and since meeting her I have visited the island almost every year.”

From an interview published by Everfumed

Tiare was not simply a floral material he handled well; it was connected with his wife, family, and time spent on the island. He says he also used the flower in the first perfume he made after leaving school.

Work Expands in New York, from Niche to Major Brands

In 2005, he joined Firmenich. One important encounter that followed was with Le Labo co-founders Fabrice Penot and Eddie Roschi.

From the brand’s beginnings in 2006, he created fragrances including Iris 39. Participating as a perfumer in the founders’ vision, he went on to create signature fragrances for the brand, including Santal 33, Ylang 49, and Thé Noir 29.

Meanwhile, he also worked on perfumes for broader markets, including Gucci Bamboo for Gucci and Ari for Ariana Grande. Rather than treating niche brands as the only special setting for creativity, he takes an interest in projects of differing scales.

Following the corporate merger in 2023, his company is dsm-firmenich. In July 2026, he and Marie Salamagne were appointed Master Perfumers at the company. The title recognizes years of creative work, understanding of ingredients, and influence on younger generations.

Creative Philosophy: Shaping a Fragrance without Polishing Away Its Personality

Building a Fragrance like a Sculpture

Voelkl compares perfumery to sculpture.

“First I think about the materials I want to use, and how I want to combine them. I begin with a very simple accord of perhaps 10 or 15 ingredients. I shape them and balance them so that each note works as intended.”

From an interview published by Liberty

In his case, he says he often builds from the parts that linger deeper in a fragrance, adding the top notes last. It is an approach that values not only the first spray but also the scent remaining on the skin over time.

And deciding that it is finished does not mean every edge has been rounded off. Even if some facets seem a little too strong or have an unexpected roughness, together they should form a unified appeal. That is the “perfect imperfection” described at the beginning.

Naturals as Broad Brushstrokes, Synthetic Molecules as Precise Lines

Visual analogies also appear in his approach to choosing ingredients.

“If we compare a perfume to a painting, using molecules is like drawing precise lines. Natural materials are more complex and multifaceted, so they are closer to broad brushstrokes.”

From a 2020 interview with Fragroom

Natural and synthetic materials are not substitutes doing the same job. What one wants to use changes according to whether a passage needs a rich, cohesive whole or a particular outline.

His favorite materials include woody ingredients, iris, Ambrox, and green cardamom. Seeing the cardamom extraction process in Guatemala deepened his attachment to that material. He also says he finds creamy comfort in Dreamwood, a sandalwood-type ingredient developed through biotechnology.

A Creator’s Signature in the Choice and Proportions of Ingredients

In a 2017 interview, he explained that of the approximately 1,300 materials in the laboratory, he regularly used around 400. In another interview in 2020, he described his entire palette as approximately 1,500 materials. More interesting than the numbers is the idea that personality emerges through favored materials and the proportions in which they are combined.

Michelyn Camen, editor of the perfume publication ÇaFleureBon, has written about recognizing Voelkl’s work when smelling an unnamed prototype. The same article included his account that in-house software also identified his creations with a high success rate.

The article called these tendencies in materials and proportions the “Voelkl ratio.” This does not mean there is a single published universal formula; it may be closer to a creator’s handwriting. The combination of iris and musk that he identifies as characteristic of his work also resonates with Le Labo’s Iris 39.

Major Creations and Their Background

Santal 33: From a Candle to a Fragrance for the Skin

Santal 33 was not planned from the outset as a blockbuster perfume.

When Le Labo was founded in 2006, Voelkl proposed a sandalwood perfume. The founders, however, did not consider it one of the strongest in the initial lineup and released it as the candle Santal 26.

The candle eventually gained a following, and a room spray in the same scent appeared. A story often told as the turning point concerns Penot noticing the scent of a man nearby in a crowd watching football. When he asked what the man was wearing, it turned out to be Santal 26 room spray.

The desire for a perfume to wear on the skin was already there among its users. Voelkl returned to the formula, and Santal 33 launched in 2011. Around 400 trials are said to have been made during its development.

Sandalwood is given a taut outline by cedar and Ambrox, with facets of cardamom, violet, papyrus, and leather layered over it. Rather than showing only the softness of wood, the scent retains dry facets and sharpness too.

“For me, Santal 33 is a masterpiece expressing ‘perfect imperfection.’ I deliberately overlook the impulse to polish every detail. Even when there are imperfect facets that feel a little excessive, they come together to become something beautiful with deep meaning.”

From a 2014 interview with ÇaFleureBon

By 2015, it was well known enough for The New York Times to feature it as a scent encountered everywhere. Voelkl himself also names it as one of the perfumes he chooses when going out.

Glossier You: For Yourself, Not Someone Else

You, released in 2017, was co-created with Dora Baghriche. What Baghriche initially proposed was a skin-close comfort built from Ambrox, ambrette, and musk. Brand founder Emily Weiss was drawn to this direction.

Voelkl joined the development, and each perfumer made around 50–100 trials. He recalls that 37–38 versions were also proposed to the brand. Through all those trials, the goal was to make the person wearing the perfume the central figure.

“Glossier You is for yourself. For your own comfort, your own well-being, and to feel comfortable being yourself. That is what I ultimately want the wearer to feel.”

From a 2024 interview with Into The Gloss

In 2024, he also created You Rêve and You Doux. Rêve moves in a sweet, rich gourmand direction; Doux in a woody, soft one. Even with the same idea of a scent that feels at home on the skin as a starting point, they show that there is more than one way to express comfort.

Nomenclature: Putting Synthetic Molecules at Center Stage

Nomenclature is a brand begun in 2015 by Karl Bradl and Carlos Quintero. It shines a light on synthetic molecules usually hidden within a formula, placing their personalities at the heart of a perfume.

For Voelkl, it became a place to express his interest in captive materials directly. His creations include adr_ett, built around the synthetic musk Helvetolide, and efflor_esce, which gives the leading role to the jasmine-like Paradisone.

His work continued with lumen_esce, holy_wood, para_iso using the fruity Quincester, and psy_cou exploring coumarin.

“I have the same love and passion for natural materials and molecules. Just as all the world’s religions can coexist, I think naturals and synthetics should coexist too. Each has its own role in my formulas.”

From a 2020 interview with ÇaFleureBon

Giving a synthetic molecule the leading role does not mean excluding naturals. Another ingredient lends depth or surprise to one clearly defined material. Their combination becomes a fragrance for the brand.

Roses on Ice: Turning Gin into a Rose Fragrance

Kilian’s Roses on Ice, released in 2020, was Voelkl’s first collaboration with founder Kilian Hennessy. Its inspiration was the gin on the rocks with lime favored by Hennessy’s wife.

It opens with the watery freshness of cucumber and the scent of juniper berries, moving into centifolia rose. Sandalwood and musk remain at the end. Rather than simply copying the impression of a drink, the composition shifts over time into the scents of flowers and skin.

Zephirine: Walking through a Printed Garden in Scent

Zephirine, released in 2023 in Liberty’s LBTY. fragrance line, began with the store’s archive print Eden’s Awakening.

A lush imaginary garden, the wood inside the store, and the colors of fabrics: these impressions are connected with scents including fig, rose, cedar, and vetiver. Bright at first, it later reveals the rich depth of woods and amber. It is a creation in which one seems to discover something different with every walk through the fragrance.

Incidentally…

Voelkl also made a perfume for his own wedding. The ceremony took place in French Polynesia, his wife’s homeland. His wife wore the fragrance, themed around ambergris, tiare, and vanilla, and small samples were distributed to the guests. He recalls that he was still a novice then and would make it differently today.

When his son was around 13–14, he worked on body-care products for Axe. Having an actual user close at hand was a special motivation, he says. For his Glossier work, too, he learned about the brand from his daughter.

Among the perfumes he wears, besides Santal 33 when going out, he names Giorgio Armani’s Acqua di Giò Profumo when traveling and Hermès’ Terre d’Hermès on airplanes. Terre d’Hermès in particular is also one of the perfumes he wishes he had created.

In an interview with The Nue Co., he described his reason for being a perfumer as follows.

“My professional reason for being is to freely create something people can enjoy. Being able to offer a moment of pleasure is special. I am grateful because it makes me feel I can contribute something good.”

From an interview published by The Nue Co.

A perfume that becomes a great success and a small perfume for a wedding are connected in bringing someone pleasure. Voelkl wants to create scents that are not merely competing in perfection, but have meaning in the lives of those who use them.

Perfume Creations

Major works are listed chronologically. Limited editions and versions in different concentrations are included. “—” means that no co-perfumer is listed; it does not establish sole authorship.

References

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